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By then the British had advanced just seven miles and failed to break through the German defences.

The Rev Stephen Hancock, chaplain to the Royal British Legion Somme branch, said: “The trees and fields today mask the horror that once came here.

“I pray God that is never repeated and I pray God that the people who died are remembered.”

I-IMAGES / ANDREW PARSONS

The battle’s first day, July 1, 1916, was the bloodiest in the history of the British Army

I pray God that is never repeated and I pray God that the people who died are remembered

Rev Stephen Hancock

Guests at the ceremony, including the British ambassador to France, Lord Llewellyn of Steep, and Earl Howe, deputy leader of the House of Lords, endured heavy rain as they listened to the Last Post and marked a two-minute silence.

Liz Sweet, of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, said the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing had 72,000 names.

She said: “Every grave here, every name, is an opportunity to reflect on the battles of the Somme and their human cost.”

I-IMAGES / ANDREW PARSONS

Nearly 20,000 killed among almost 60,000 casualties during the Somme battle

Battle of the Somme: 100 years

Sat, July 2, 2016

The 1st July marks the beginning of the Battle of the Somme, one of the largest battles of the First World War. On the first day alone, the British Army suffered terrible casualties amounting to 57,000 men

Among the missing was 21-year-old Second Lieutenant Philip Woollatt whose broken heart was revealed by his shredded leather-bound notebook found in a shell hole – all that was left to identify him.

The notebook’s yellowed pages, ripped by a bullet or a piece of shrapnel, tell of his devastation at leaving behind his sweetheart and hearing of her marriage to another.

It also reveals how the officer with 7th Battalion, The Queens’ Royal West Surrey Regiment, never told his girlfriend, Alison Robertson, of his true feelings.

I-IMAGES / ANDREW PARSONS

A shredded notebook found in a shell hole – all that was left to identify Philip Woollatt

By the time he had enlisted she was engaged – but he never stopped loving her.

He wrote: “I now realise how much I love her and what a topping girl she is. I was not good enough for her anyway.”

His book contains his will – one of 278,000 last wills and testaments of soldiers killed in Britain’s wars which are being preserved for future generations by archivists at Iron Mountain in Birmingham.

In it he left Alison all that he had of value: A collection of works by the Scottish novelist and poet Sir Walter Scott.

Battle of the Somme centenary commemorations

Fri, July 1, 2016

Remembering the Battle of the Somme, Britain's bloodiest battle 100 years on.

The 100th anniversary of the start of the battle of the Somme at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Memorial in Thiepval, France

The book was found after his death in July 1916 and returned to his mother just days before his brother Claud was killed at the Somme.

On July 1, the British Army’s grimmest day was marked by a Thiepval ceremony attended by dignitaries including Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall and then Prime Minister David Cameron.

Since then Thiepval has held a daily service to mark the passing of a century since the soldiers’ sacrifice.

Before today’s service the Rt Rev Nigel McCulloch, head of Remembrance at the Royal British Legion, said those who fought had left an “enduring legacy” across the UK and Commonwealth, their sacrifice symbolising “the tragic scale and futility of modern industrialised warfare”.